Legally Dead
by TerryJ
Summary: A good ol' regular L&O story: Girl dies Lennie and Curtis investigate McCoy and Ross pick up the trail to try and nail the guilty party who maybe closer then they think ****last chapter up. Chap 4***
1. The Crime

I don't own any of the characters...blah blah blah please dont sue me blah blah blah I'm too boring/ stupid/ unoriginal/ lazy to come up with my own blah blah blah enjoy the story and please comment blah blah blah (except for Chet in the second chapter...I definitely own Chet...and all the other random characters who aren't on the show that I made up but I want everyone to be absolutely sure that I own Chet 'cause he's so cool (and Mr. Wolf would prolly sue me if I tried to attribute Chet to him.))  
  
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"What?" Briscoe was still half asleep when he groggily answered the phone.  
  
"Hey partner. We're on call, or did you forget. Any way, I hope you weren't planning on sleeping or anything, we got a body."  
  
Lennie hated how awake and chipper Curtis could sound at 2 in the morning. "Ah shit, sure ok where?"   
  
"The alley behind Hogan place."  
  
That caught Lennie's attention. "Really? Anyone we know?" He could picture with dry humor, Jamie Ross tossing Jack McCoy off the roof of the building or Vice Versa.  
  
"Um, no I don't think so, but I'm still at the precinct so I don't know first hand."  
  
"Ok, Ok I'll see you in twenty minutes."  
  
Lennie rolled out of bed and put on a pair of pants, thankful he had decided to shower before he went to bed instead of waiting until morning.  
  
***************************************************  
  
"I give up. There is nothing here and I can no longer think straight." Jack McCoy grumbled. It was 8 o'clock the next morning and he and his assistant Jamie Ross had spent the entire night in his office going through bank statements and witness lists. This was a rarity but Jamie's ex husband had her daughter, Katie, for the night so she and Jack had done a marathon of work.  
  
"Well we have an hour and a half before we have to be in chambers, maybe we should take a break and get ourselves halfway decent." Jamie replied.  
  
Jack rubbed his hands upon the stubble on his chin that had grown over the course of the night. "Yeah, I don't think old fashioned Judge Thompson would appreciate us showing up smelling in the same clothes as yesterday."  
  
Jamie rolled her eyes and was about to reply when there was a knock at the door.   
  
"Come in." Called Jack hoarsely. In came Lennie and Rey both looking almost equally as tired as both of the attorney's. "What's got you two here so early? I hope its nothing to do with the Frank's case because I'm about to head in to chambers to keep the charges from being thrown out and I swear if there are anymore screw ups from your department..."  
  
"Calm down Counselor," interrupted Lennie. "We aren't here about that. We aren't even here to talk to you, we were looking for Schiff but he's not in yet. There was another murder last night."  
  
"So? Why come here?" Asked Jamie curiously as she rose, stacking the paper mess into neat piles. Murders were tragic of course but they happened far to often and it was definitely not common procedure to alert the District Attorney as soon as one was discovered.  
  
"Did you know Mary Werthers?" asked Curtis.  
  
Jack shook his head, the name was foreign to him but Jamie seemed interested.  
  
"Yes, she an intern from Fordham University, I hired her in September. It wasn't her was it?" Lenny grimaced. "Oh no, it was..." Jamie sat back down slowly, her stacks forgotten.  
  
Jack still looked confused. "Why were you hiring interns?" He asked Jamie.  
  
She ignored him but instead quickly switched into attorney mode, determined to find answers. "What happened? Where did you find her? How did you know she worked here? Did you notify her mother and brother?" Lenny looked at Rey who took the hint and put his notepad in his breast pocket as he explained what happened.  
  
"The call came in around midnight, shots heard, no witness account. Blues arrived at the scene not long after and found a young female in the alley behind Hogan Place by the rear door which was still ajar. She still had her purse, jewelry and 50 dollars cash so it wasn't some random mugging. Her body hadn't been moved so whoever shot her shot her there, thus they had to have known her and where she was at such a late hour. No one else but a wino was found. The wino was, unfortunately passed out at the time. She took two in the head, one in the left shoulder blade. CSU says that''s indication that she was still being shot at as she fell. In her wallet we found a security pass and yours and one other ADA's business card, Ms. Ross. Also seeing that she seemed to have been shot as she was leaving the building we assumed she had some relation to the D.A.'s office so we thought it best to come and talk to Adam Schiff as soon as we could."  
  
"Well I'm here now." The crotchety old District Attorney was standing in Jack's open door way still in his black over coat and grey scarf and fedora. Only Jack and Lenny had noticed him come in half way through Rey's narration. From what little he had heard he knew that this case was going to become a nightmare, he only hoped that no one in the office had been involved.  
  
"Why don't we start with answering my question." demanded Jack.  
  
Jamie looked at him slightly dazed, "What was that again?"  
  
"Why were you, of the trials bureau, not personnel, hiring interns and how is it that you knew this girl well enough to know what her family consisted of?"  
  
"Oh, well, Jeff, who is down in the personnel department had done me a favor by letting me use his copier because ours is always broken and when I was down there one day a call came in and his daughter was sick at school and he had to go but had three interviews for an intern post that afternoon. I told him I was free and would pinch hit for him. That's why I hired her and after I did I told her she could come to me for advice or what not so every now and then when we are at the office for lunch time I would have lunch dates with her. We talked about everything. That's how I knew her family. They live in Massachusetts and didn't want her to come to school here. They were afraid it would be too dangerous in the city. She was such a smart girl, I mean really brilliant. We talked about some cases and I sometimes forgot that she hadn't even finished law school yet. You know she came to the office wanting to work domestic but last we talked she was gunning for your job." She nodded to Jack as a small, sad smile flicked off her face. She looked at her hands and sighed.  
  
Adam let out a huff. "Well I didn't know her but I do know that is a case we're going to need a conviction on, just don't make to much of a mess as you tear my offices apart detectives." He said as he turned and disappeared into his own office.  
  
It was quiet for a moment when Lenny suddenly had a thought.  
  
"You two look beat. Were you here all night?"  
  
Jack rubbed his eyes groggily. "You better believe it detective."  
  
"Well, do you know who else was here? I mean if shots were heard around 12 she was here pretty late and a college intern isn't likely to be doing work late on her own is she?"  
  
"She may have been studying. We have a small law library on the 8th floor and I know that she's used it before when she's had a test or something." suggested Jamie.  
  
"Still you might have noticed anyone else in the building or heard anything...anything at all." asked Curtis.  
  
Jack grimaced, thinking, "I really couldn't tell you detectives the only time I wasn't concentrated enough or tired enough to hear anything beyond this office was when we were eating our takeout around 10:30 ish."  
  
Again they were all quiet for a few moments not sure what to do next when Rey suddenly spoke again to Jamie.  
  
"Do you think you could show us where she worked? And then perhaps you could tell us anything you remember talking about with her. Anything you could remember might help us."  
  
She looked questioningly over at Jack who was removing a razor and shaving creme along with a folded shirt from his bottom drawer.  
  
"Go, that's important. I think I can handle Thompson on my own. Besides, we'd be late if I had to wait for you to get yourself ready for court." He said with a wicked grin as he walked out the door to the men's room.  
  
"Follow me detectives." Jamie sighed and put one of the stacks on Jack's desk with a yellow sticky note on it and then picked up the rest and lead the detectives out of the office. 


	2. An angel named Mary

Lennie leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. They had brought Jamie down to the precinct to talk after they had looked over Werthers' very neat and organized desk space. Rey had just gone down to get her a taxi and Lennie now found himself resenting her for being able to go home and sleep. He let out a yawn as he reached across the desk to pick up Rey's notebook flung onto his blotter. The notes on their discussion with ADA Ross were written in Rey's neat handwriting, each statement organized into subjects under headers. Reynaldo Curtis. He chuckled to himself. What a guy, who else could be so OCD on 2 hours of sleep. He shook his head and began to read the notes to remind himself all that they had heard.  
  
Mary Werthers was 22 and 3 months into her first year of Law school at Fordham University in the Bronx. She was living alone in an apartment between school and Hogan Place. Her mother payed the rent and tuition. Her Father had been dead since she was a child, Jamie didn't know why. She had come to the D.A.'s office in September with a sheet from her guidance counselor. She had a 3.8 GPA and outstanding recommendations from teachers. She had a small, tight group of mostly female friends, no current boyfriend, a highschool ex in Massachusetts. She was now working as an Assistant to Eric Gray, an Assistant Attorney in Petty Claims. No Drugs, no sex, clean, hardworking and liberally idealistic as any first year law student.  
  
"Whadda ya say we head back to school?" Asked Rey as he grabbed his flip pad back out of Lennie's hand.  
  
"I think I'd rather be tardy." Lennie replied stretching his arms and rolling his head back.  
  
"Come on little Leonard..." smirked Rey as he grabbed both his and Briscoe's jacket. Lennie groaned and followed him out the door.   
  
******************************************  
  
Lennie hiked up his jacket against the wind as he listened to Curtis talk to Mary's "close friends". Three very shy, "humble" looking girls and Chet, a tall lanky kid with a southern drawl, home knitted orange and purple cardigan and red knee sox , someone for whom Lennie could not think of any applicable adjective.  
  
"So she wasn't involved in anything unlawful or dangerous?"  
  
"No! Not our Mary, she was one in a million, I swear who ever killed her was just some no good, dirty, murder and that's it." replied an offended Chet.   
  
"Did she ever go out to parties or on dates or anything besides work or study?" Curtis asked with slight frustration. Again, Chet jumped in.  
  
"Oh sure our Mary had quite a work ethic, but it was healthy, not overbearing, she had fun if that's what your getting at. But no she didn't have to go out with any dopey guys on stupid dates or go to any ridiculous frat parties to do so, I mean she had us to have fun with...right gals?" He threw his long arms around his companions as he spoke. None of the three seemed to be as enthralled as he but they all nodded agreement.   
  
The shortest one looked up to Curtis pleadingly, "Mary was a really good kid who was going to be a really good lawyer someday."  
  
The brunet spoke up too, "Yeah, ever since she got that internship that's all she talked about,"  
  
"Not lately, she sorta stopped talking about the office and Mr. Gray in the past week, she sorta avoided the subject." The last girl pointed out.  
  
The other two agreed. "Yeah, she didn't seem as happy recently, I tried to ask her why and she said it was nothing and changed the subject" The short one added.  
  
"Aww ok so maybe she was a little stressed but our girl was a trooper fighten for the under dog on the right side of the law, in the trenches duking it out, forcing the bad guys down, fighting the good fight side by side with the district attorneys and cops of Manhattan County, New York, New York, USA! " Chet ended his short tirade with his fist in the air and looking around as if he expected the rest of the campus to surge behind him chanting or something.  
  
"Uhh, Chet, you do realize that she was pushing paper in Small claims, right?" asked Briscoe hesitantly.  
  
"So? A wrong is a wrong no matter how small and even the big boys have to start somewhere, you should know that officer." Chet snarled with contempt.  
  
"Right, I'm sorry, hey if you can think of anything here's our card thank you girls....Chet." Briscoe gave him a nod and turned back towards the road with Curtis beside him. "Come on Rey, we have to go save the world, we are the cops of New York, New York, USA!" chuckled Lennie mockingly as he pulled the car away from the curb.  
  
***************************************  
  
"So what we have is an angel working with the D.A. who turns up dead." Lt. Van Buren sat at her desk with a look of consternation on her face.   
  
"Yeah, and I hate to say it L.T. but from what those girls said it sounds like there was something going on in the office." Replied Rey.   
  
"Well, past disagreements aside, the office of Adam Schiff is the last place that I would suspect illegal activities or major internal affairs issues." Lenny rolled his eyes. "Stop that Briscoe, you know I'm right. What about that boy that was there, you said that his take on Mary's attitude was different then the girls. Maybe he was covering something, maybe there was something between them?"   
  
"Who? Chet and Mary? Not possible. She was perfect and he's, well he's just Chet, a total spaceshot." "So you two are pretty set on the work place angle?" "It seems like the only place to start." Stated Rey. "Ok then," Van Buren sighed reluctantly "Start with her direct superior and try to keep Schiff or someone informed, the last thing we need is the two of you pissing off the D.A.'s office. We still will have to work with them even after this case is long gone." "Awww lieutenant, have I ever been anything less then the epitome of tactful with the D.A.?" smirked Lennie. "Exactly, now get out of here." She said as she pushed them out the door of her office. 


	3. The Arrest

"Jack, just ask him!" Jamie banged her hand on his desk in frustration. Why couldn't he just once listen to her?  
  
"What for? This type of case is guaranteed to land on my desk anyway, he'll probably mention it at tomorrow's meeting." He shook his head and dismissed her frustration with a wave of his hand.  
  
"But the detectives are routing around the office now and I would like to know that I have some authority to be informed as to what's going on. I mean, come on, the investigation has been officially underway for two days with no D.A. assigned to the case." Jamie was angry now, all she wanted was to be sure that she and Jack would be the ones handling the Werthers case and Jack was just being obstinate...as usual.  
  
He looked at her and spoke with a raised voice that held the tone of finality. "Listen it doesn't matter if I ask today or am told tomorrow, it's the same result. The court calendar has been really screwed up lately and that's why he hasn't told us yet but you know I'm going to get it and you know I'll work to get a conviction. There is no point in rushing in and demanding things of Adam."  
  
"Demanding he tell us who the hell is doing what?" She shouted back. "I don't see that as a problem. If you and I are going to be working this case I would like to know so we can get started."  
  
Jack became quiet for a moment and absent mindedly shuffled things around on his desk before he spoke again, a little quieter but no gentler, "There's another thing, I'm not sure you should second chair this one."  
  
"WHAT?" She stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"Face it. You are too emotionally involved with this victim. It may skew your judgement and I can't afford that risk with this type of trial." He shouted back. As soon as he did he half wished he had been a little kinder about discussing that with her but she was shouting at him, it was her fault he got defensive so it was her own fault if he hurt her precious feelings.  
  
Her eyes glared daggers at him and she exclaimed back, "Too emotionally involved? I'm sorry I didn't realize caring was now a risky attribute. Life must be easy for you with out compassion you cold hearted..."  
  
"HEY! You two." Adam came into Jack's office through the connecting doorway. " I can hardly hear myself think next door. You may not be aware of this but we all work on the same side and I will not have two of my best attorneys bitting off eachother's head. Not on my watch at least. One death in this office is too many already. And Jack, you and Ms. Ross have that Werthers case. Detectives Briscoe and Curtis are downstairs now in Gray's office. Don't screw this one up." As quickly as he had come, Adam said his piece and left with out waiting for comment.  
  
Jack glared meaningfully back at Jamie who smirked a condescending smile and glided out the door of his office saying "I'll see you after I get back from talking to the detectives about OUR case."  
  
***************************************************************  
  
Rey was talking with Eric Gray, an ADA in Petty Claims who was Mary Werther's direct supervisor. Lennie was outside the office looking for anyone else who may have known Mary.  
  
"Mr. Gray, we already knew when she came to work here and that she had great reccomandations and that she was hired by Jamie Ross. We already knew all that. You never answered my question though. I just need to know how she was at actually working, here in this office."  
  
Gray leaned back in his chair. He was about six foot tall with lengthy dark hair, save for some graying at the temples. Rey placed him to be between 35 and 40 years old. He was dressed in a designer suit, slightly unusual for some one working as an ADA. He had an air of apathy and superiority about him that seemed oddly matched with the small glass and wood cubicle he worked in. His pale skin sagged around his mouth as he wanely smiled and then frowned.  
  
"Detective," He began slowly. "I wanted to make sure you knew all that so you don't think I hire and keep just anyone you know. Small claims maybe called small but we are one of the busiest offices in this building. Hardly anyone goes through more cases then we do. That's why we get so many interns and that's why they have to be good."  
  
"Trust me Mr. Gray, I understand the popularity of this office." replied Rey with an edge of humor.  
  
"Well when some one comes to this office with such laurels, such as Ms. Werthers did, you expect them to produce a decent type of work, you know? Well she was great for about the first week. Then she started slipping. I mean this girl had no work ethic at all. She was always late, leaving early, not following directions, not finishing things left on her desk. I mean her work station was always a mess. I can show you that later. But this girl was just not D.A. material. And to make matters worse she would always go off on these lunch dates with Jamie Ross, you must know her from upstairs, and then come back late and be all like 'Oh I'm sorry I'm late I was at lunch with ADA Ross.' as if she were some hot shot for lunching with the big boys. I was tempted to say something but I mean, come on, what am I going to do? Tell her to not eat with her? Boss around Jamie Ross? I mean she's like Jack McCoy, they have their offices right next to Mr. Schiffs and call him Adam to his face! If they have a problem on a case they go to him. If I have a problem I only have other ADA's to go to. If I went up there I'd be thrown out the window, and they're on the tenth floor!"  
  
Rey inwardly smirked at the idea of Jamie throwing this guy out of Jack's window but he forced himself to concentrate on what was at hand. "What about your EADA? Mr. Turner? I know he's pretty chummy with McCoy and he goes to the weekly executive meeting with Adam. Did you ever bring any of your complaints about Mary to him?"  
  
Gray dismissed the thought with a roll of his eyes.   
  
"Oh no, you know these execs, they are all alike. They get their one or two cases that put their name in the papers and don't care as to what their staff is doing. Telling Turner wouldn't of solved anything."  
  
Rey couldn't recall ever seeing a DA's name in the paper over a small claims trial but he decided not to push the point. "So why didn't you fire her?"  
  
"Like I said she was fine the first week and she came with such good recommendations plus being so chummy with upstairs I decided to give her some extra time to settle in, see if she came back around. Wanna see her desk now?"  
  
Rey followed Gray out to another, larger cubical with four interns' desks in it. Lennie was talking to a young man of about 25 who sat in the front right corner. The desk in the back was Mary's. The detectives had already seen it with Jamie the morning after the murder but Rey had neglected to tell Gray that and he was slightly taken aback at the difference a day makes, especially when the owner of the desk was dead for that day.  
  
"See? An absolute slob. This entire stack was supposed to be done 4 days ago!" exclaimed Gray pointing to a fairly large stack of violently manhandled manila folders and paper. The desk, in contrast to what they had seen only a day previous, was in absolute disarray. Folders and files and forms everywhere. Little sticky notes in Gray's writing read "Mary please get this done", "Mary finish this then see me", "Ask me if you have questions on this","Part 44 on this form is a little strange, see me and I will help you with it.". 2 half finished cans of diet coke were shoved to the back and a picture of the three girls and Chet was hanging lopsided on the wall with a crack in the glass.  
  
"Well, I guess you were right, very disorganized." Said Rey slowly, not really sure why he was seeing what he was seeing. Lennie had finished with the other intern and was now nodding in agreement besides Curtis.   
  
A phone rang.  
  
Rey pulled out his cell and swung around saying "Excuse me a moment." As he pulled the phone to his ear and answered with his usual, "Curtis."  
  
Lennie looked at Gray. "We think someone from this office killed her." he said suddenly.  
  
Gray was startled and stammered on his reply. "Oh, oh no I don't believe that at all. Definitely the wrong direction. No, no one here would do that."  
  
"Oh and what do you think happened?" asked Lennie evenly.  
  
"Well as I was telling your partner, she got very disorganized and lazy suddenly. It was probably drugs or something. I mean look at the stoners she hangs out with." Motioning to the broken picture. Lennie had to agree that at least Chet was different, but a stoner? No. Before he could say anything else Rey came back.  
  
"Hey Lennie. We got medical examiner's report and ballistics and its crazy."  
  
"Let's go then. Thank you for your time Mr. Gray, I'm sure we'll be seeing you again." Shouted Lennie as they left the office.  
  
***************************************  
  
"She was assaulted before she died." The medical examiner explained as she showed the detectives finger shaped bruises on her arms. "Probably not the first time judging by these older marks. Also, look at her ankle, swollen, it was twisted shortly before she died, she was probably chased before she was shot. That would explain the broken high heel shoe. From the way it was twisted off and the angle of the bullet I'd say the assailant was inside the building"  
  
"But CSU said he was outside." Asserted Lennie.  
  
"Well, I'll throw your boys some credit due to the fact that it was late but they neglected the fact that she was turning as she fell. The bullets in the head were in the front, the bullet in her shoulder blade was from the back, she spun, the angle is variable, her murderer was inside the building of the District Attorney." She finished matter of factly.  
  
"Rey, what did you say about ballistics?"  
  
"The slug hit a match...not a criminal match. The gun was issued to Peter Jensen, a security guard at 1 Hogan Place." Lennie groaned. "Don't worry Len, he reported it missing a week before the murder."  
  
"Well then, he still has questions to answer. Let's go find him."  
  
*************************************************  
  
"Ok, Mr. Jensen, how did you lose your gun?" Asked Lennie straightforwardly. He was sitting across from him in the security guard's living room.  
  
"I don't know, I had it and then I went to put it away for the night and I didn't." Lennie and Rey exchanged glances. Rey leaned forward.  
  
"So you mean to tell me that your gun just mysteriously disappeared off your person one day?"  
  
"Pretty much, yeah."  
  
"Or maybe you gave it away?" Lennie suggested. Jensen balked.  
  
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"  
  
Lennie leaned back and spoke slowly with understanding in his voice. "Oh you know, a friend is in a tight spot, says he fears something, needs protection or what not and for some reason he can't get a gun of his own so you decide to just 'lose' yours some where by his house. No big deal really, we would just like to know who you lost it for."  
  
"No! I would never..."  
  
"Or maybe its not lost at all, maybe it's at the bottom of the Hudson, right where you put it after you killed that poor girl." Rey quietly accused, leaning even further into the man's personal space.  
  
Jensen locked eyes with Rey, sputtered and began to sweat. "I never, no, no I maybe irresponsible, but never, no you have to understand, I didn't, I wouldn't, I had no reason to!"  
  
"Then tell us how bullets from your gun ended up in Ms. Werthers' head."  
  
Jensen leaned back and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. He sighed deeply and muttered "ok, ok" to himself a few times before explaining.  
  
"I could get fired for this. A little while ago I was called to do an early shift, you know 4 a.m. to noon, and I had been up late with the baby anyways so I really hadn't had much sleep and there wasn't really anyone there so I thought I would just close my eyes for a little while and when I opened them it was already 6:45 and my gun was gone. I swear, that's it. My post can be seen by security camera 62. You can check it. I swear to you, I did not kill that girl."  
  
*********************************************  
  
Jamie didn't knock before walking into Jack's office. He was reclined on his sofa, his feet up on one of the arm rests, his shoes and jacket were off and his tie loosened and there was an open copy of The New Yorker on his chest. He would have looked like the picture of relaxation had it not been for the fact that his eyes were tightly closed and his face was grimaced in pain.  
  
"Headache again?" She asked as she strode into the office.  
  
"No, no I just thought it would be a good idea to ignore my work and lay down on my couch in the middle of the day." He replied sarcastically with out opening his eyes.  
  
She picked up the bottle of Ibuprofen which was sitting open on his desk. "How many of these did you take?"   
  
He winced at the sound. "Two or three or four, I don't know, is there something I can help you with?" He asked curtly, hoping there wasn't and she would leave him alone.  
  
"Not in that state you can't" He opened his eyes and shot her a momentary glare before wincing them shut again. She noticed that they looked bloodshot. "You know if you keep on getting headaches this bad you should go to a Dr. They could be migraines." He just grunted in reply. "Anyway I stopped by to tell you that I just got a warrant for the arrest of Mary Werthers' murderer."   
  
At that he sat up and Jamie could tell from the look on his face that he immediately wished that he hadn't. "Who?"   
  
"Her supervisor ADA Gray. Briscoe and Curtis should be back any moment. They can explain it to you."  
  
Jack sighed, took a gulp of water from a glass on the end table and bent down to put on his shoes. As he slowly moved back towards his desk, grimacing all the while, Jamie smirked.   
  
"You could have your arm cut off by some lunatic and you would ignore it and go right back to work wouldn't you?"  
  
He looked up at her tiredly but let go a small smile as he said, "If I had my arm cut off by some looney I would have to come to work and have him charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon and possibly attempted murder. It's a matter of necessity."  
  
Jamie shook her head. "I'll bring the detectives up when the come in." and she shut the door quietly behind her. 


	4. Trial

Adam leaned back trying to take in all that he just heard. He looked from the detectives standing across his desk to Ms. Ross sitting in one of the arm chairs to Jack sitting lethargically on his sofa. These four people he trusted more then anyone else to find guilty parties and carry out justice. He shook his head. Once, just this once he hoped they were wrong.   
  
"Ok, So you four are telling me that Eric Gray of my small claims department stole the gun of one of this building's security guards, saved it for a week and then chased and shot one of his intern assistants and then tried to convince the cops that she was a problem worker with a possible drug problem?"  
  
"That's the basic story, yeah." Affirmatively nodded Rey.   
  
"Do I hear a motive surfacing in this mess at all?"  
  
Rey looked at Lennie who took the hint, "Well, sir, no, not exactly, yet. But we do have a security camera tape of him taking Jensen's gun."  
  
Adam gave a dissatisfied grunt. Jamie then spoke up, "And Mary told me about a week or two before she died that she didn't want to work for Gray anymore, that he made her uncomfortable, but wouldn't elaborate."  
  
Jack snapped up his head. "Why is this the first we're hearing about this?"  
  
"It sorta slipped my mind I guess. I didn't remember until we started looking at Gray as a suspect."  
  
"Well maybe if it didn't l slip your mind before this happened and you actually did something, this girl wouldn't be dead." He snapped back vitrolicaly.  
  
"Jack!" Adam chatised.  
  
Jamie shook her head. "No its all right, he's got a headache and you know how not feeling well can put children into bad moods." She said sarcastically. Jack huffed out a breath. Turning to Jack she added, "You think I haven't already thought of that?"  
  
Jack cast his eyes down and crossed his arms. Adam shook his head in dismay, what was he going to do with these two? They were prone enough to bicker but when one of them sunk into some type of mood all help was lost.   
  
"Alright, alright, lets not dwell on who did what except for our suspect. Why is it that we don't have security video from the night Ms. Werthers was killed?"  
  
Lennie looked at his notes. "The circuit breaker was turned off."   
  
"So we have definite premeditation?"  
  
"I'd say so." Called Jack from the sofa.  
  
"Well I don't want to go to trial with out a motive. If she was feeling uncomfortable it was probably something done at the office. If that's the case then it will be on some other tapes downstairs. I suggest you get a comfortable chair and pop some popcorn. "  
  
Everyone began to file out of the room. Jack took the longest to pull himself off of the sofa. Adam looked at him.   
  
"Are you drunk?"  
  
Jack looked incredulously back at him. "No. just a headache."  
  
"Ok. Be easy on Ms. Ross, you and I both know what it feels like to lose someone and feel somewhat responsible." Jack started to say something but Adam held up his hand. "I'm just saying keep the bickering to a minimum, we are all on the same team here and she doesn't need any of your wisecracks right now."  
  
Jack looked at his toes and didn't say anything. "Hey, Jack, let those three watch the tapes. You go home, sleep a bit. The more stress you have the more your head'll hurt." Again Jack began to say something, this time in protest. "No, I don't want to hear it. Go home. Go!"  
  
**********************************************  
  
The next morning Jack came in and leaned on the door frame of Jamie's "office".   
  
"Hey, sorry about the comment yesterday. How are you doing?"  
  
She looked up at him slowly as if deciding something. "Nah, its ok. I'm doing fine. I feel better having put this guy in jail. You feeling any better?"  
  
"Yeah, I mean, it was only a little headache."  
  
"Well only little headaches shouldn't incapacitate you from doing your job. You shoud see a doctor."  
  
He ignored her comment. "So what did you find on the tapes?"  
  
Jamie bit the inside of her lip. She didn't like it when he just ignored her like that and she also didn't like what she was going to have to explain. She paused for a moment. "Gray was sexually assualting and harrasing Mary for the past month. But she wasn't being a push over, she denied him again and again. The last time, the day before he stole the gun she held a letter opener to his throat and he backed down."  
  
Jack sat quiet for a moment. "So he took the gun to intimidate her into submission and when she still ran he chased?" Jamie just gave him a matter of fact look. "Its a motive, the actual crime is circumstantial but its not a stretch by any shot. I'll tell Adam we're ready for trial."  
  
He turned to leave but Jamie called him back, "Jack."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Listen, what you said yesterday,"  
  
"Jamie," He tried to interupt.  
  
"No, it wasn't wrong. And what he was doing to her, I should have noticed and when she told me I should have done something."  
  
He sat down in the chair next to her desk and put his hand on her forearm, "Jamie, no, there was no way you could have known and if you had there was nothing you could have done to prevent him from doing anything. You have handeled enough sexual predator cases to know that. Yesterday I was in a bad mood, just spouting steam. I'm sorry if I made you feel responsible because you're really not."  
  
She looked down. She didn't want Jack to notice her glistening eyes. "I can't help but feel responsible for that girl's death."  
  
"You're not, you're really not. I really can not have you on this case if you can't rid yourself of that notion. Do you understand me? You are not responsible."  
  
She nodded her head but didn't say anything more. Jack stood and patted her back before he left to go talk to Adam.   
  
***********************************************  
  
Jack let out a long low breath and leaned back slightly in his chair at the prosocuter's table. He watched as Gray's attorney tried to tapdance his way out of a conviction by giving an emotional summation. Jack smirked inwardly. He had already felt confident about the case, but watching this closing was making him feel even better. He was reminded of a famous saying in the world of law, "If the law is on your side, argue the law. If the facts are on your side argue the facts and if you have neither then just argue." And that was exactly what Gray's attorney was doing.  
  
"And so ladies and gentlemen I ask you to spare this man's reputation, this man's career, this man's LIFE and return a verdict of not guilty. Thank you."   
  
As the attorney moved to sit down Jack looked at Jamie and smoothed his tie. She gave him and encouraging smile while he stood up and adjusted his suit jacket. He walked slowly and delibratly to the middle of the floor in front of the jury, all the while looking at the floor about a foot from his shoes. He sighed one more time and looked sadly at the 12 citizens of the jury.   
  
"Mary Werthers is dead. She was 22 years old. She did not die of some horrible disease or of some fault of her own. She died from three gunshot wounds. She was shot in the back. She was murdered while running in fear. What initiated that fear? Not only did this man, this murderer, hold a gun to her head, he also sexually assualted her at least a dozen times. How do I know that this atrocity occurred? I saw it. You saw it. We showed you the tapes. We let you see, with your own eyes how this man abused his power and came on to this young girl. How she was so afraid that she once defended her self with a letter opener. The defendent felt the need to one up her so he stole a gun. Again, how do I know this? How do you know this? Because we saw it, we watched as that man there steal the gun that ballisitcs matched to the bullets in Ms. Werthers head and back. " He paused and breathed "She was attacked, she was killed at her work, at the District attorney's office. A place where we work for justice. The defense has asked you to consider the effect on Mr. Gray's life if you find him guilty. I ask you, is it justice to ignore the effect he had on Mary Werther's life? She's dead, he had the motive and the means and the opportunity. Please don't let Mary Werthers' love of the justice system be in vain, serve justice for her. Look at the facts, at what you saw and complete justice by finding her killer guilty." He nodded his thanks and sat down.  
  
"That went well" whispered Jamie beside him.  
  
"Thanks, but if we win this it won't be because of my summation."  
  
Jamie smiled a knowing smile and fidgeted with a button on her blouse while half listening to the judge's instructions to the jury. When he was done Jack looked at Jamie and smiled.  
  
"Wanna go get some coffee?"  
  
"Yeah sure sounds good."  
  
They got up and headed to the large oak doors. As Jack was opening the door and waiting for Jamie to pass through he heard a voice behind him. "McCoy!" It was the defense attorney.  
  
"Hey, McCoy, listen I was thinking that maybe we could sit down in a room somewhere, work out a deal of some sorts...?" The younger man looked pleadingly at the district attorneys. Jack balked.  
  
"We just sent out the jury, do you really think we would talk now?" Jamie was looking at some movement beyond Jack's shoulder as he spoke.  
  
"Uh, Jack, I don't think we even have time to entertain the defense's request, or that coffee either." Jack looked at her questioningly. Then he looked over his shoulder where she had been looking and saw the bailif coming their way.  
  
*******  
  
It had to have been some kind of record. The jury voted as soon as they got into the room and were back out in 7 min. Jack noticed Jamie trying to hide a tear when the jury read off the guilty verdict. He mentioned it to her as they were returning to the office.  
  
"So what if I was crying?"  
  
"Its just very unlike you thats all." he replied quietly.  
  
"Well Jack, you don't really know all that much about me, do you?"  
  
He just looked at her blankly as he moved to unlock his office door. Suddenly he was being attacked by a giant ball of orange wool. He pushed it away and realized it was a young man in a very "loud" sweater.  
  
"Aww, I'm sorry. I should have realized that you probably don't like hugs." Jack just stood silently amazed at this character. "But I bet you do!" With that Chet spun around and offered Jamie a hug.  
  
"Ah, the infamous Chet, we meet at last." Jamie finally got out between laughter.  
  
"I just came down to thank you guys for working so hard on Mary's benefit."  
  
Jack smiled. "We'd do anything for a fellow ADA."  
  
Jamie added, "Including putting them in jail."  
  
Jack sighed and retreated to his office.  
  
~End 


End file.
